Monday, March 26, 2012

Photo Essay: California Dream Homes, Part 2

Pretty much anyone can lure me back to their place by just asking if I want to see their apartment or house. As much as I love my own Art Deco apartment, I am a voyeur to others' homes. I have an insatiable curiosity as to how others live.

And in Los Angeles, you don't have to be part of the 1% to live well. For a fraction of the cost of a Manhattan apartment, you can have a whole house here.

And in LA, modern architecture is not relegated to historical modern - streamline moderne, mid-century modern and such - but is still alive and well and thriving throughout the city, not only in Venice, Culver City, and along Mulholland Drive, but also in Echo Park.

This weekend, de LaB hosted a walking tour of four of those modern residences, varying in size from small to extra large. Although their architects each took unique approaches to the space at hand, they all shared a common sparseness, an openness and light, embracing the outside - and the surrounding neighborhood - as much as the residential quarters inside.

It's nice to think that you can build your dreams from scratch out here. You can turn a weird little concrete box into a three story gem with an amazing roof deck. You can build the life that surrounds you, wherever you decide to situate yourself.

And if it turns out it's not your dream after all (or not anymore), it's surely someone's dream...